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In 2023, over 1 billion people aged 15 and older were estimated to have experienced sexual assault during childhood and 608 million girls and women in this age group have endured physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner. Among all health risks for premature death and disability, intimate partner violence among women aged 15-49 and sexual violence against children ranked fourth and fifth respectively.
Sexual violence against children and intimate partner violence against women are two of the most devastating yet persistently underrecognised global health challenges and rank among the top risks for mortality and morbidity worldwide, according to research published in The Lancet on Tuesday.
The new analysis is part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 study that provides refined prevalence estimates and reveals an attributable disease burden. According to the analysis these exposures together contributed to more than 50 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) globally—32.2 million from SVAC and 18.5 million from IPV. DALYs represent the total years of healthy life lost due to both premature mortality and years lived with disability.
These risks were shown to be especially devastating for young and middle-aged individuals. Among women aged 15-49 years, IPV and SVAC ranked as the fourth and fifth leading risk factors for loss of healthy life globally, outranking many well-known threats such as high fasting plasma glucose or elevated blood pressure, and close in ranking to iron deficiency (ranked second), a longstanding focus of women’s health interventions. SVAC was linked to 14 conditions, while IPV was associated with eight negative health outcomes. “These findings fundamentally challenge the persistent view of SVAC and IPV as primarily social or criminal justice issues and underscore their status as major public health priorities,” Dr Luisa Sorio Flor, lead author and assistant professor at IHME said.
According to the analysis, in India in 1990, there were 32,800 deaths attributable to sexual violence against children and 21,300 deaths attributable to intimate partner violence. In 2023, there were 71,600 deaths attributable to sexual violence against children and 30,100 deaths attributable to intimate partner violence.
When contacted, Tanuja Babre, mental health expert (not associated with the study), told The Indian Express that Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence Against Children remain among India’s urgent and least-addressed public health crises. As per the NFHS-5 approximately 29.3 percent of women aged 18-49 have experienced physical or sexual violence by their husband. NFHS-5 showed that nearly one in three women has experienced spousal violence and yet more than three-quarters never seek help.
“We do not have updated national data and yet every day violence is driving anxiety, depression and self-harm among women and children. Long term consequences include anxiety, depression, suicide risk, chronic illness and reduced life expectancy,” Babre said, adding that violence is not only a protection issue. “It is a mental-health crisis and India needs to treat it with that level of urgency,” Babre said.
Dr Rakhi Dandona,Director, Public Health Foundation of IndiaI Injury Prevention Research Centre told The Indian Express that to address intimate partner violence in India, we must take a whole-of-society view. Deeper insights and action are needed into where violence-supportive norms sit in our communities, and how public and institutional systems may be reinforcing them. Meaningful progress will require addressing gender inequality within our patriarchal social structures. ”We also need stronger and more relevant measurement of IPV, developed in partnership with people with lived experience of violence, to design interventions that are truly effective, feasible, and aligned with the realities survivors face,”she said.
